A From an article on King Richard III’s reburial:
“The recovery of Richard’s bones has spawned a raft of new books about the fallen king, and the BBC is planning a new television series to be entitled “The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses,” with the role of the king to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Mr. Cumberbatch, who has been identified by genealogists as a third cousin 16 times removed of King Richard, attended the cathedral ceremony on Thursday and read a poem specially written for the service by Britain’s poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.”
I am not a member of the cult of Cumberbatch (I think he looks like what aliens will look like on their first attempt at impersonating humans), but I did enjoy him as Sherlock, and whatthehell he’s related to a king and gets to read poems at his funeral? What can’t this guy do?
Also, the article implies that Shakespeare was just a shill for the Tudor family and so smeared Richard for all time. Eeenteresting. History is written by the victors, etc etc.
Speaking of Shakespeare, I recently read Station Eleven and really enjoyed it. A flu pandemic wipes out most of the world’s population, and one of the characters the story follows in the aftermath is a member of a group of traveling actors who perform Shakespeare because “People want what was best about the world.” Richard III might disagree with that.